Residents unload unwanted medicine

Published
12:00 am CDT, Saturday, April 28, 2012

EDWARDSVILLE - Drugs may have exchanged hands Saturday in a parking lot behind the County Administration Building in Edwardsville, but it was just part of the fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A steady stream of Madison County residents drove through the lot, dropping off unwanted, expired or unused drugs that were then deposited into a 55-gallon trash can. The trash can was emptied at least twice in the first 90 minutes. The bags of prescription and over-the-counter drugs were safely stored by the Madison County Sheriff's Department, awaiting pick-up by the DEA for later incineration.

The drop-off site was a joint effort of Sherriff Bob Hertz, State's Attorney Tom Gibbons, Coroner Steve Nonn and the Drug Free Coalition of Madison County.

"Last year, only about four people showed up," said Stephanee Smith, communications director for Gibbons. She credited the media with helping to spread the word out about the program.

"People are dropping off anything from one bottle to a full grocery bag," she said.

One man, who drove off before a reporter could get his name, joked with Gibbons.

"It's good stuff. Might even be something poppy-related in there."

Gibbons said the program is part of a bigger plan of dealing with a heroin epidemic because many of the drugs collected are in the opioid class, the same type of drug as heroin.

"Heroin is being sold in cold capsules so it can be eaten or snorted. Capsules are broken open, emptied and filled with heroin. Eventually, people do go on to using the needle," he said.

Nonn said there have been 17 drug overdose cases to date, five of them confirmed from heroin and four from prescription drugs. He's awaiting toxicology reports on eight others.

"Last year there were 26 heroin overdoses and 16 from prescription drugs, so we're keeping our average, unfortunately," he said.

Gay and Janice Flood don't have children at home any more but said they wanted to get rid of out-of-date antibiotics.

Sandy Mullen, on the other hand, had two young children in the car with her when she dropped off her bag of unwanted drugs. She drove in from Greenville.

"This is a great opportunity. They don't offer this in our own community, so I had to come here," she said.

The first 20 people to drop off their old drugs received a medicine lock box, courtesy of State's Attorney Tom Gibbons. Each box can hold about 12 pill bottles and various types and sizes of the boxes can be found in stores or online. Gibbons said the money from the DEA's Asset Forfeiture Program paid for the lock boxes as well as for informational literature each person received.

Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in America, especially among teens. According to the DEA, 60 percent of teens who abused prescription pain relievers did so before the age of 15. Every day, on average, 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time.

Gibbons said of 30 pills in a prescription, only nine are used for legitimate reasons and "that means 21 pills are sitting around."

May Ferraris works in the pharmacy department at Dierberg's in Edwardsville. She was dropping off medicine that her mother was taking before she passed away last year.

"She was on heart and blood pressure medicine. I have three daughters at home - 21, 18 and 12. I didn't know what else to do with (the drugs)."

Besides the DEA's Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, the Collinsville, Alton, Maryville and Troy police departments have a permanent drop box in their lobbies where residents can deposit their medications.